Amazon Indigenous Health Track:

 This track offers the opportunity to observe how traditional medicine and allopathic medicine intersect and are implemented in the Amazon Basin . Participants will learn about efforts by the local public health ministry to educate providers and patients on the value of both approaches to healthcare. Participants will spend time in Puyo and its surrounding indigenous villages, sharing daily activities with jungle communities.

By the end of the program, participants will understand basic concepts about the Amazon cultures in Ecuador, concentrating on the Shuar and Kichwa indigenous communities. There will also be opportunities to support alternative community development programs emphasizing environmental protection, and the promotion of strengthening of cultural identity and respect for traditions. These unique rotations can include the opportunities to work with Puyo Department of Indigenous Health or trekking to remote areas of the jungle to visit indigenous communities.  Participants will:

• Learn about indigenous healthcare beliefs by visiting local indigenous communities such as Shiwakocha (Kichwa), Uwijint (Shuar) and Jatari (mixed)

• Identify meeting points between both medical belief systems

• Learn about difficulties for patients in accessing healthcare due to geographical and cultural barriers and the efforts and varying approaches of local healthcare personnel to overcome these barriers (i.e. community health visits)

• Support alternative community development initiatives through community visits